When 3D printing began trickling into aviation manufacturing, many could see the potential.

But would the technology ever live up to that potential?

The answer, increasingly, is yes.

Airbus has been working for about two years on a project that would utilize a hangar-sized printer — far larger than any available today — to print a concept plane out of lightweight materials by 2050.

The technology today is used in aviation mostly to make things like small components, tooling, assembly fixtures and prototype parts.

Like all technology, 3D printing is advancing rapidly and with the growing ability to print with metals such as aluminum and titanium, the implications for the industry could be vast.

For example, General Electric is already printing metal components on some of its aircraft engines.

But it isn’t just large companies getting in on 3D printing. In Wichita, a growing number of suppliers are finding ways to print parts for the manufacturing process.

While those companies are still using printers that utilize different types of plastics, the time and cost savings they’re beginning to realize show why there is no turning back from 3D printing at all levels of the industry.

Cox Machine Inc. added 3D printing capability in the last few months, where it has been utilizing it for some of the common uses, like prototypes and tooling.

But having the ability in-house is giving them the opportunity to find more uses for it. And the bottom line, says Cox’s Ted Nelson, is that it is making the company more competitive.

RapidPSI has used it for several years, while others like PowderTech LLC and Great Plains Industries have recently purchased printers for in-house use.

The National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University has been using 3D printing for many years and has become a resource for printed components to area companies.

For example, Cox utilized NIAR’s capabilities before making the move to bring the technology into their own shop.

The institute has also received requests from outside aviation, including the electronics component industry. It has received specialized requests to print everything from custom car parts and camera mounts to dog kennels.

As for aviation, the majority of the parts being printed around Wichita now aren’t actually put on planes, with some exceptions like the aircraft ductwork RapidPSI makes. Rather, most of it is being used in support of the manufacturing process.

Metal printing could change that, and it’s a technology NIAR is pushing forward. NIAR has taken delivery of its first metal printing machine and is in the process of setting up.

That could mean printed parts that — after some clean up of the surrounding support material needed to print more intricate parts — could go right on the assembly line.

It’s a much more cost-intensive process than printing with plastic materials, so it’s unlikely that many suppliers will be quick to invest in their own equipment.

But Rempe expects NIAR’s capability will keep a steady stream of suppliers at its doors looking either for quick turns on specialty parts or trying to get a better feel for what the technology will mean to the manufacturing process.

“There’s going to be a ton of interest in it,” he says.

A changing work force

Just down the hall from NIAR’s 3D printing operations at the National Center for Aviation Training, CATIA instructor Paul Von Itter of Wichita Area Technical College is helping train some of the high-demand workers who will be the 3D modelers.

In addition to needing people to operate and maintain the machines, not to mention some of the actual manpower needed to clean the parts following printing, there will be a growing need for people that can make the 3D models that produce the printed components. CATIA — Computer Aided Three-dimensional Interactive Application — is the type of software those workers will need to understand for that modeling.

From there, Von Itter says, even the sky is not the limit.

“It’s really only limited to the imagination (of the designer),” he says.

Bob Calvert, engineering manager at Great Plains Industries — one of the newer suppliers to 3D printing, which added it in May — is seeing that lack of limits firsthand.

GPI, too, used to outsource 3D printing needs before bringing it in-house.

And, like Cox, the company is finding increasing uses outside of tooling, fixtures and prototypes.

As the technology progresses, and with major players like Airbus and GE helping lead the charge, he says there can be little doubt of just how much 3D printing is going to change things.

“I think it’s going to have a dramatic impact on the manufacturing paradigm,” he says.

How 3D printing works

Three-dimensional printing, also known as additive manufacturing, makes 3D objects from a digital design by laying down successive layers of material. Unlike traditional subtractive manufacturing, which cuts an item out of a larger block of material, 3D printing machines take the material and slowly build up the item.

Those materials range from plastics and ceramics to powdered metals.

Very simple items can be printed by just layering the material. However, most items require the additional layering of a support structure that is later removed from the finished product.